House of Seasons
The House of Seasons, also known as the House of the Seasons or Domus Temporum is a school of magic in a hidden location, somewhere in the Eastern United States and home to many magi from across the world, it is currently the only place of it's kind due to the absolute rarity of magi on Earth in the 21st century. History The House of Seasons' history is complex and not well understood, comprising of written accounts and scriptures dating back to the 1620's when Witch Hunts from Europe forced both Magi and even early neos who were tarnished under the same brush as evil and satanic, to flee and head to America but were perused by members of the newly adjoined Knights Templar and Masonic Priesthood posing as Christian missionaries in the shape of the Illuminati organisation, as such the House was thought to be founded in the 1690's with the initial purpose of housing and protecting these individuals, but as attacks on neo and magi grew the House grew more and more elusive with waning magi numbers, especially after the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. Many Magi, however were not happy at being labeled with neohumans who they saw as bizarre in that they had hardly any magic potential, some seemed to cause mana to almost be repelled despite seemingly possessing what could only be called 'magic powers' at the time; neos were seen as 'malum' by magi, and judged that their powers were given through by willing possession by demons as these powers could be accessed without study or ability to tune, or were themselves demons in human form and it was they who should have burned at Salem. Nevertheless the House continued to hold both magi and so-called malum until an internal revolt in 1701 outcast the malum from the House of Seasons utterly. The details of this rebellion, who started it and why are fuzzy as most references and historic articles were destroyed in the process or at a later date by a guilty purge of text by more open-minded and intelligent magi of the victorian era. It was thought that New Magiscript was developed here in the 1720's composed of Latin, Greek,Celtic and Norse elements which is still used today in magic circles, ruins and personal grimoires as well as being used in historic documentation and knowledge to keep it safe from nosy normal humans. While the script used textual elements and characters of European languages it's structure and form were taken from ancient and mysterious glyphs that are only seen rarely today and exist as part of a much older, ancient language and spellcasting system, known only as 'dawnspeak' that predates anything on record in the Vox Magi community. During the 1840's when Cell Theory was developed many magi began to realise that 'malum' were not demon-vessels or actual demons but something genetic and there may have been a purging of historic documents at this time to wipe the slate clean of the rather hypocritical persecution of malum by magi. The 1850's and beyond also saw new advancements to magi society and many began to delve into the use of magitech, fusing magic with technology. Purpose ''' The House of Seasons is more than just a Hogwarts-esque 'school of witchcraft' that teaches magi to use their powers, it teaches the traditional elements of any school, it serves as a home to wayward magi who have little understanding of their ability to tune, it is a research centre of magic and regular sciences too, especially healing, chemistry and biology. The House of Seasons has it's own laws and enforces and defends Vox Magi from internal and external threats to their community and more importantly has jurisdiction to track, observe and if need be attempt to bring into custody potential magi. It also aids in the hunt for and research of magical items such as relics, foci, talismans and mezzite. '''Location The original House of Seasons was said to in fact be composed of several small places across the world linked into a single astral building, however since the rebellion the House was relocated to a newer single-structure building circa the 1750's. This seems to be a large 18th century mansion of a Scottish design with some 200 rooms, hidden chambers, a massive dining hall and magically sealed rooms. The House cannot be accessed directly, instead using magical doorways or portal spells is the only way to enter, and the building will channel approved teleportation spells directly to the main hall and lobby. As it does have a rather expansive garden complete with small lake the House of Seasons itself is a very real place in a very real location, but is surrounded on all sides by thick woods and beyond that impenetrable brush, thorny vine nets. This is said to sit atop a steep plateau that is further surrounded by a deep somewhat boggy river that runs from under the plateau and connects the garden lake, forming a moat around the area composed of swamps, boggy lakes and sinkholes. This moat and surrounding marshland stretches through further dense forest and impenetrable bushes and shrub nets on the lower land until it levels out into a vast, less-dense forest hundreds of miles from any road or town. The location is particularly difficult to get near to either way as all plants and insects have been magically altered to release confusing toxins to anyone near for centuries, causing them to wonder away from even the very outer lowlands of the forest. It is protected overhead by several magical barriers and cloaks and avoids any local airspace at any rate. The plants and animals that exist there are all active familiars that form a complex network of magical communication and deception and are uniquely bred to survive and pass on magic. These 'wild familiars' however rarely survive outside of the influence of the outer lowland forests, being specifically hexed to only be able to breed with another magically-enhanced animal to ensure these animals do not breed outside the control of the Vox Magi of the House of Seasons. Structure and Organisation The House of Seasons was thought to be primarily founded as a safehouse for those hunted by crusades and religious discrimination across the world during the 17th century, but even after numerous revolts and organisation changes the basic structure of the House has remained the same; there are four primary areas of the organisation and these sub-departments can currently act independently, although prior to the 1940's a fifth area known as 'Equinox' oversaw and administered these four internal branches, but was phased out during a short rebellion during the strains of the Second World War: * Spring: ''' A time of nurturing and growth Spring is a branch dedicated to education, both magic and nonmagic, it also deals with healing, gardening and revitalisation. * '''Summer: * Autumn/Fall: * Winter: Category:Magic Community